Thursday, August 26, 2004

Context

'I'm the commander,' [Bush] told journalist Bob Woodward for the book, Bush at War. 'See, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation.'

The quote is almost always reprinted with the implication that Bush was referring to the American people in general. But he was simply referring to the manner in which he conducts Cabinet meetings. Here's the full context from the original Washington Post story (as available on LEXIS, or as reprinted here):

* * *
On Wednesday, Sept. 26, just two weeks after the terrorist attacks, Bush surprised his war cabinet, which had been debating when to begin the bombing of targets in Afghanistan, by declaring: "Anybody doubt that we should start this Monday or Tuesday?"

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld eventually convinced Bush that planning was incomplete and the bombing should not begin for another week. Bush said he was intentionally prodding his aides.

"One of my jobs is to be provocative," he said. "Seriously, to provoke people into -- to force decisions, and to make sure it's clear in everybody's mind where we're headed. There was a certain rhythm and flow to this, and I was beginning to get a little frustrated. . . . It was just not coming together as quickly as we had hoped. And I was trying to force the issue without compromising safety."

Did he ever explain what he was doing?

"Of course not," he said. "I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

One can still disagree with this "manager-as-provocateur" approach on pragmatic or attitudinal grounds. On the other hand, the quote isn't all that shocking, given that many managers or bosses, if speaking frankly, would probably admit that they don't feel the need to justify themselves to their subordinates.

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

There are different ways of managing, of course. In terms of direction to one's staff, the main ones are to use bullying (I don't recommend it: it's ineffective and drives off the good people), ingratiating (which sadly tends to give people the green light to walk all over you), firm guidance (appropriate with juniors who need initial forming, but condescending to higher-level professionals), setting an example (always recommended), and guiding consensus to the preferred conclusion (very useful with highly-skilled and experienced staff). It appears that the President favors the latter two. Big deal, yeah?